July 21, 2014 E-mail

Mommy!!

Again I forgot the camera thing a majig!! Sorry!! We left the house quickly to get to the other chapel because we played volleyball and soccer as a zone! Then we ate Chilean hot dogs!!

So this week was good. The sister who was here before was sick for a week and they couldn’t work, so we have a lot of finding to do. But thanks to a few referrals from the members we are finding more people to teach and we just found out that our area is bigger than we thought! Woohoo!! More area means more people, and more people means more baptisms!!!!!! More baptisms means a bigger celestial kingdom!!!!!! So no complaints! Jean Carlos was going to get baptized this Saturday, but he couldn’t come to church yesterday. His mother, a less active member, has two hernias and two ruptured discs in her back so when the pain is too much, which it almost always is, she has to stay home and they can’t leave her alone. We will see what happens this week. There are some members here that are so great! They always help us and they do such a great job!

Attention!! Attention all reading this letter and/or blog!!! If you have not gone on a visit with the missionaries DO IT!!!! It is one of the most spiritual experiences that you can have!!!!! Just find your local Elders and/or Sister and say ¨Hey, when can I accompany you?¨ And, if they are good missionaries, they will be so excited and say ¨Whenever you want! When are you free? We have an appointment this day and this time. Could you come?¨ And maybe you will be there for thirty minutes to an hour and you will feel the Spirit so strongly and you will give your testimony and you will help someone in their eternal progress! And then you will leave feeling so good inside and Heavenly Father will bless you in every other aspect of your life! And you will want to feel that special spirit again because it’s a different feeling in missionary work and you will become addicted to that spirit that you can’t get anywhere else and then you will have to do your own missionary work to keep it with you because you can’t always be with the missionaries and then pretty soon you will be inviting the missionaries to your house because some friends are coming over to hear them and that feeling will triple in intensity and you will experience “more joy than you have ever experienced!” (The First Presidency, letter to the reader, Preach My Gospel)!!!!!!!!!!

That is the truth! That is my testimony. There is more joy in watching someone that you have grown to love accept your most precious treasure than in any other pursuit in the Gospel! Do it! And Do. Not. Wait. There is no time to lose!

Love you all!!!!! (Especially you MOMMY!!!!)

Hermana Arntsen

July 15, 2014 E-mail

Mommy,
Yeah so we lost the World Cup.... but that´s ok. I prayed that whatever the outcome it would help soften people’s hearts to the Gospel, so I guess they just needed a little humbling. Haha! But, yes we did have to stay in the house from 4:00 pm until we went to bed. Basically, we just went to church, lunch and then home.

Right now it is very rainy and cold! It is not so cold when it rains because the clouds trap in the heat. But when it’s not cloudy, it is cold!!! Well, not so cold in numbers--it doesn’t go below 0 (32F), but with the humidity it feels colder and with the wind too.

So, we had transfers. Well, first I have to update you with Hermana Fuzaro. Her foot was not getting better. Actually, on the contrary she felt that it was getting worse. So we talked to President. He talked to the mission doctor and explained the situation how the other doc said that after a week of complete rest she could walk a little and it would be fine and that it wasn’t getting better. Doctor Smith (from the mission) said of course it’s not getting better--she needs SIX weeks of complete rest and then physical therapy. So.  this morning at 9am Hermana Fuzaro got on a plane and went on over to Brazil (home). JUST FOR SIX WEEKS THOUGH! Then she will come back and continue working as normal!!! Or, at least that is the plan. On top of that, this transfer there are more sisters heading home than we are going to receive, and President had to close two areas. Well, Villa Adelina was one of those. So, now I am back in Capital! A ward called Parque Patricios. It is in the neighboring zone to Caballito where I was for so long! It has only been a few hours, but I like being back in the city! I didn’t realize how much I missed it until now! My new companion just finished her training. She is Hermana Pardo from Concepcion, Chile. (You know, ever since I arrived here I have only had one North American companions, Hermana Dunn. The rest are Latin Americans! :D) Yep, so here I am! I would send you a whole bunch of pictures but my little thing to put the card in the computer is packed away I don’t know where. Next week!

And, on the way here we passed by a la villa 31 which is this really big villa right by the highway. We were in a car and there was no risk of being robbed and so I took some pictures so that you can all see what a villa looks like. I have only been in one once and the President restricted the Hermanas from going in anymore because of the danger. But the villas are where the Elders always have a ton of success because the people are really humble. Oh, if you don’t know a villa is a piece of land where the gov´t is already paying electricity and water and the people just squat basically. But they make huge mini cities out of them. They live in tiny little rooms that they build themselves, and they are all right there on top of one another and next to each other so that there aren’t even streets with room for cars or anything. They don’t even call them streets, just hallways. You will see next week.

So, that is the big news! Back in the city! And it might actually be my last area, but I’m not sure. We will see!!

I love you!!! Have the best week!

Hermana Arntsen

July 7, 2014 E-mail

So, this week was actually surprisingly great!!!!!! OnTuesday we had a mission devotional and an “Argentine Cultural Activity,” or in other words we got to watch the AGENTINA WORLD CUP GAME!!!!!!! Vs. Switzerland. We won, of course! We got together as a mission in the school of the kids of President Ayre because they are on vacation and got to watch the game. They grilled over 700 hamburgers!! Monday in the evening President sent us to his house to help his wife cut up all the onions and tomatoes because we couldn´t work anyway. Then Wednesday through Friday we went to the office after lunch! They put us to work!

I shredded papers (thanks for helping me gain experience before the mission, haha!), and made the packets for the new missionaries that come in, and most importantly worked on the mission history. The mission has to keep a record of the things that happen month to month and at the end of the year they send it in to HQ. Well they still hadn’t finished last year’s history, so I finished it up and then updated this year’s. It made me feel like a journalist! But I did in Spanish—yikes! Fortunately, there is an Elder in the office from Mexico, so he proofread it for me! Elder and Sister Lines, the senior office couple, were SO appreciative of the help. They are from Safford, Gila Valley, AZ!! Elder Lines has a cattle ranch! And Sister Lines is a choir pianist at the university! So, we get along real well. Elder Lines actually reminds me a lot of Dad. Then the fourth was also Elder Lines’ birthday, so Sister Lines brought in brownies and Hermana Fuzaro made brigadero which is a kind of Brazilian caramel. Really yummy!! She made it into balls and rolled it in coconut! You would have loved it! I’ll have to make it for you or you could try it. Hna Fuzaro says she loves it best with cashews inside.

Then Saturday there was an Open Chapel in Villa Ballester which is right next door so we went to help with that and it was great! A few people accepted baptismal dates!!! Then last night was the Despedida of the missionaries that are finishing this transfer. They did it yesterday because next Sunday (when it would normally be) there is a game and it’ll be dangerous. We brought Hermana Fatima Garcia, the counselor in the RS, and her husband Favio, non-member and Jewish. He really liked it and said that he would come to mine in November!! That seed is growing!!!

This week President said we can also watch the game on Wednesday!! With a member, and if we take the two hours out of our p-day today but we still can’t really work so it doesn’t affect us much. This week we can get out and work but only a little bit, and we might have to go to another doctor and get a second opinion because Hna Fuzaro says it’s been hurting her more than ever and doesn’t feel like it’s getting better. :( Pray for her!!

I love you so much!!!!!!!!

Keep up your missionary efforts! Don’t you forget your responsibility! We knew these people before coming to earth, and we promised them that we would find them and help them receive the Gospel! This is no trivial work!! This IS ETERNAL LIFE!!!!!!

Love!!
Hermana Arntsen

June 30, 2014 E-mail

Mommy!

So this week was interesting. We didn’t get to work too much because Hermana Fuzaro has a problem with her foot. We couldn’t figure out what was wrong, it was just hurting a ton. Funny story actually so we had called Hermana Ayre (mission president’s wife) because she is the nurse now that Hna Dunn went home, and she gave us the number of a 'podologo' which we thought was a podiatrist. So we made an appointment for next week when they had available. Then on Sunday, a member told us that a 'podologo' is for the nails of the feet like infections, ingrown toenails, things like that. So we talked to the counselor in the bishopric who is a doctor and he confirmed what the sister had told us. He said we needed to see a trauma doctor. The president of the RS offered to take us to the hospital that day so that it didn’t get worse. So we talked to Sister Ayre, and she said go for it! So we spent all afternoon yesterday in the hospital. But the wonderful thing about Argentina is that all public healthcare is free! (And education too even college) So they took an x-ray and it turns out she has a stress fracture in her ankle. So we have to rent a boot and she can’t work for a week, and then for two weeks after she has to take it easy but work a little. So this week it looks like President is going to send us to the office a couple days to do some work there. So it will be another fun week and a little boring because we won’t get to work so much but it’s better to give up this little time so that Hermana Fuzaro can have the other 15 months without problems in her mission! She has a great attitude and I’m really lucky to be her companion!!!

So we are teaching this one family from Paraguay. Selva is the mom, she is a member and so great! She knows the truth and that is the truth for her! And her son, Nicolas, is also a member and he just recently returning to activity and his girlfriend, Mabel, who isn’t a member. She is really sweet and a little shy, but she came to church on Sunday!! Nicolas always makes us tortilla Praguaya when we go over! It is so yummy! It is basically like a thick pancake that you fry in oil and then the Paraguayos eat it with bread so it’s a lot of calories, haha! But Soooo yummy!!! Also, we are teaching Zaira, the mother of two members, Franco and Noelia who is on a mission in Chile right now. Zaira is really great! She is so motherly to us, and Noelia is doing her part from her mission in every letter leaving her mother scriptures to read. Our area isn’t actually in the country, so to speak. It’s just like Chandler, the suburbs—just a lot of houses and places to shop. It’s actually neighboring the ward to where President lives, so that’s cool. :D

Love you tons!!!!!

Hermana Arntsen